


Girl Talk

by Avorna



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 21:25:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14029071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avorna/pseuds/Avorna
Summary: They've both had far too much to drink, and they should have gone to bed hours ago. A drunken Mollymauk asks Nott about who she finds attractive, and it exposes feelings that Nott has yet to speak.





	Girl Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I just can't stop writing Nott/Caleb with supportive!Mollymauk.
> 
> Also, to be absolutely crystal clear, Nott in this fic I have written as around 19 in human years as this is my interpretation of her maturity based on goblins not aging at the same speed as us boring humans. If you're opposed to discussions of Nott being with someone romantically or sexually, please do not read. 
> 
> I know people get concerned, so I thought I'd make it clear.

The two of them should have gone to bed hours ago. The sun is coming up, and the bar is left to few more than Nott and Mollymauk now as they nurse their drinks. They have both been more drunk in their lives, but not together and not for a very long time.

“Go on, who’s the hottest of our little band?” Molly teases, regarding his whiskey and considering whether it’d be worth it to throw it away at this point. It tastes like shit. He was drinking it to get drunk, and he’s definitely that right now.

Nott’s voice sounds strangled as she responds, “I— Er— What?”

The tiefling smiles, “Who’s the easiest on the eyes?” There’s a twinkle in his eye; something about asking Nott this question has him curious. “Besides me, of course. It wouldn’t be fair to include myself, because look at me.” His gesturing to himself is sloppy.

“I, erm. I haven’t thought about it.” Nott is lying. And not well.

“It’s okay to be shy. We’re not talking about taking them to your bedchamber or marrying them just yet—I don’t even know if you’re interested in those kinds of thing. But who’s the most up your alley?” Molly giggles.

She fidgets a little more, “And why exactly would it not be fair to include you?”

He laughs louder now, “You can’t include me. This is girl talk—we’re friends, and we don’t include ourselves in picking the hottest because we know we're the hottest. But I’ll tell you who I find attractive if you tell me who you think is pretty.”

Nott’s eyes narrow, “Still not going to tell you.”

“Ah, so there is someone then.” Her yellow eyes grow wider. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything. But Fjord is a rather dashing, isn’t he? Even if he weren’t so handsome, the accent would have got me immediately. Not going to lie, I tried it on with Yasha when I first met her. Naturally, she rejected me but I’m fine with that; heaven help the person who finally woos her. I suppose your Caleb is rather pretty when you take the mud off him.” Molly knocks back some of his fowl liquid. “Do you— Is it Caleb that you like? Is that why you don’t want to say?”

Nott swallows. She could try to deny it, swear blind that Molly is drunk and he’s seeing things. But she can tell the guilt is plastered all over her face. She stares at Molly, trying to decide what she can say to stop him telling anyone ever and wishes to gods that she’d gone to bed hours ago.

He softens, “Okay then. Like I said, he’s very attractive once you wash the dirt off him. Or keep it on him… My tastes are confusing even myself right now.”

Nott’s hands withdraw from her glass and she balls them up into fists on her knee. She’s trying to breathe steady, like Caleb always tells her to, but she’s on the verge of hyperventilating as her thoughts begin to spiral. Someone else knows. Someone else can tell Caleb. She feels exposed and her chest is tight.

“Hey, hey, hey there, I’m not about to say anything.” Molly reaches a hand across the table and places it on Nott’s shoulder. “This is girl talk. Nothing leaves this table. I won’t bring it up anywhere. I want to understand, is all.”

“Okay.” Nott’s voice is a croak.

He squeezes her shoulder. “Are you two an item then? Keeping it on the quiet?” He pauses before adding, “Because I can understand that; you both clearly value being discrete.”

Nott scoffs and fixes her eyes to the table. “No, of course not. He doesn’t like me like that.”

Mollymauk considers his words. “And what would ‘like that’ be for you?”

Nott starts blushing as she brings her one of her hands up to cover her face. “You know like— Like, he wouldn’t want to kiss me or anything else or f—” Her hand awkwardly flaps as she can’t believe she’s saying this out loud. “He, wouldn’t want to ‘woo me’ or anything like that.” She brings her other hand to up to air-quote, before nervously going to scratch her ear.

The tiefling keeps his face neutral, as Nott is expecting him to start laughing hysterically at the idea of her and anything like that. “You say he wouldn’t— So he hasn’t said he doesn’t like you that way?”

“He doesn’t have to.”

Molly rolls his eyes, “And why doesn’t he have to? What has he actually said to you?”

“He’s not said anything, it’s— I’m not oblivious, okay? I know that I’m not a shiny human or a pretty elf or something.”

He brings his hand down to where Nott is obsessively scratching and takes her hand in his and rest it on the table between them. “And why would you have to be a shiny human or a pretty elf for him to— For him to want to be with you?”

Nott takes a precautionary look around the bar, but by this time of night—or morning—the only other people left are a couple of stragglers at the bar and a bartender polishing the glasses. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve somehow managed to miss this, but I’m generally considered monstrous.” Her voice is a loud whisper.

He waves his hand dismissively, “And I am literally devil spawn, and our attractive sailor friend is also green, and full of that _monstrous_ blood just the same as you.” He corrects himself, “Well, not the exact same, but you get what I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s not the same— No one wants to fuck me,” Nott knocks back the rest of her drink at that. “I’m a fucking goblin.”

“And?”

“I’m a fucking goblin.” She’s still trying to whisper, but her tone is sharper and she’d be about as loud speaking if she chose to speak normally.

“AND?”

The rest of the patrons look over at Molly’s misjudged volume. “He’s, er, fine. He’s very passionate.” They take a moment before they turn their attention back to what they were doing before.

“Look,” Mollymauk keeps his voice softer. “You know that he doesn’t think any different of you for what you are. He adores you. He’ll put himself in harm’s way to protect you.”

Nott still looks dejected, “There’s a big difference between being okay with having a goblin as a friend, and—” she goes to take a swig, but she’s already emptied the glass. “And fucking one. And loving one.”

Molly brings his other hand around Nott’s and brings it up to his lips to plant a kiss on it. “I am not saying that Caleb's secretly in love with you or anything. People’s tastes are fickle, and they’re absolutely allowed to be. What might be attractive to you or may not be to me, and yadah yadah yadah.” He waves his hand around before returning it to Nott’s. “But what I’m saying is, you don’t get to count yourself out until you’ve actually said something and let him make a decision either way about what he wants.”

They say in silence for a while, listening to the faint murmurs of conversation in the background.

“If I tell him, and he doesn’t feel this way, it will ruin everything.”

Molly listens to her, “It would definitely affect things. If he doesn’t feel that way, then there’s going to be a tension of sorts. But these things heal. If he wasn’t interested, it’d push you in the right direction to move on. And you’re somewhere. You’ve moved forward—there’s an end. There is more between you two than can be stopped by having some unrequited feelings; you’ve seen some shit.”

Nott fiddles with her empty glass.

“And there’s nothing to say that he won’t feel the same anyway. Then you’re fucking a cute redhead and can say that you took a member of our lovely troupe to bed before I managed to, and wouldn’t that be something?”

Nott snorts. “I— This is weird to be talking about to someone else."

“That’s okay. In the morning, I’m happy to forget this ever happened.” Molly ponders his own words for a moment before continuing, “Unless you want me not to have or anything, in which case I’ll absolutely remember every detail.”

Nott laughs again, a lot brighter than he’s heard in a long time. “I still don’t know if I’m going to tell him. I probably won’t say anything, you know.”

Molly nods, “That’s fine. As long as you’re not doing it because you’re already counting yourself out.” Sighing, he stands up and stretches his arms out. “Right, we need to sleep some of this liquor off and prepare for how horrific we’re going to feel tomorrow when we’re off to kill some beasties.”

The goblin agrees and follows Mollymauk up the stairs to her room that she’s sharing with Caleb.

As she walks into their room, she opens the door as slowly as possible so as to avoid disturbing her companion.

When she is sober, and when she has the time, she’ll think on what Molly said. But right now, bed beckons and she’s thankful for feeling that bit lighter.


End file.
